But the Los Angeles native, signed to Jive Records and managed by the same team that backed the Notorious B.I.G.'s career, started his career singing a different tune. He penned "Sure Thing," pledging his devotion to an ex-girlfriend after cheating on her, and that song is set to be his next single.

"I believed we could overcome adversity, obviously unbeknownst to her," Miguel told MTV News. "But I wrote a record for her about how perfect we were for each other."

The pair didn't make it, but the song was later posted on his MySpace page (with more than 7 million plays to date) and then delivered to executives at Jive. Initially, the singer didn't want the track posted due to its personal nature, but the experience in the song connected to a sea of listeners.

Now, with his debut, also called All I Want Is You, tentatively slated for a February release, the singer hopes he can win over even more fans with his mix of edgy R&B and inspirations as eclectic as David Bowie, James Brown and Queen.

"I think the operative word as opposed to bringing R&B back, my intension is to take it forward," he said. "So as we push boundaries, boundaries are there for a reason. They have their anchors, they have their foundations, and pushing those away or trying to move them is gonna take effort. That's OK. That's what we as artists are here for: to push those boundaries and explore outside and push things further.

"I think it's exciting, and I think the world is ready for artists who endeavor to push boundaries," he added. "It's not something that can't be done. It's actually pretty cool for people to take a step back and go, 'What is that? I don't know what that is, but I like it.' That's really cool."